Nakshatra Series – 24

Nakshatra Series – Revati

Revati, the culmination of Mercurial energy, in fact all zodiacal energies, is represented in the celestial firmament by a group of very faint stars in the constellation of Pisces. The exact number of these stars is not specified in the ancient texts, although 27 seems like an automatic choice! The ancient Vedic seers saw that these stars made a shape similar to a dhola (drum strung across the neck with a strap and played with both hands, used for carrying in processions).
The brightest among these faint stars is known in modern astronomy as Zeta-Piscium, which has a visual magnitude of only 5.20. It is located close to a comparatively brighter star, Mu-Piscium, around the fag end of the tail of the fish formed by the constellation Pisces. This asterism is not easy to locate in the night sky, but one can always utilize the fact that Zeta-Piscium lies almost exactly on the planetary ecliptic (the path of the planets around the zodiac); in order to locate it in a very clear new moon night sky.

Name:

“Revati” has a simple translation – “wealthy”. As we shall discover later, this name conveys a lot about this asterism on all levels, even though it is not apparent straightaway why the final asterism representing complete dissolution be related to something as transitory as wealth. Its alternative translation is “to transcend”, which is more in keeping with this being the final Nakshatra.

Symbol:

Since this asterism has a lot to do with duality, it has two and not one main symbol – a “fish swimming in the sea” and a “drum”.

A fish swimming in the water is an obvious choice as a symbol for this Nakshatra, as it falls completely in the sign of Pisces, which as we know is represented by two fishes swimming in opposite directions. The symbolism of a fish swimming in the sea has been used from time immemorial to show the soul’s journey in the waters of the universe. Vishnu, the preserver among the Trinity, is often shown sitting atop the sea of consciousness.

The fish swimming in the sea also suggests a path. This Nakshatra has a lot to do with paths of all kinds, whether it is just a path to one’s house or the whole life path itself. As declared by all wise men and incarnations, knowing and following one’s path in life is the biggest penance of all. In a way it is the one and only path to liberation.

This Nakshatra, as we know, is the last among Nakshatra’s and thus has a lot to do with moksha and final enlightenment. It should be noted here that moksha doesn’t actually mean liberation from cycles of births and deaths, as is enunciated by many schools of thought. Even after final enlightenment, one might have to take birth in some cycle of some universe. To find one’s true path in life, one has to learn to see the bigger picture. This happens through connecting oneself with the universal mind, which in turn is tuned to the collective consciousness. This Nakshatra represents collective consciousness. This however is a little different from the mass consciousness represented by the sign Cancer.

A drum as we recall is the symbol for Dhanishta as well. There’s a lot of similarity between Revati and Dhanishta. One similarity which stands out immediately is that they are both regarded as wealthy. Please refer to the symbol section in Dhanishta for understanding the signification of a drum as a symbol. Revati’s drum is similar to a Naggada (a type of Indian drum played with two sticks), and other types of modern drums used by marching band.

It can be seen that Revati’s drums are always played by sticks of some kind instead of by hand. They also have a connotation of bringing news, which the Dhanishta drum doesn’t have. In all the ancient cultures, any news of importance to the community was always announced accompanied by the sound of drums. In some cultures, drumbeats were even used as a way of sending signals in much the same way as Morse code. We can thus infer that ‘communication’ is one of the key aspects of this Nakshatra.

Deity

Pooshan, a solar deity, similar to the Sun god, is considered the main presiding deity of this asterism. He is supposed to light up all paths. This gives him rulership over as diverse a thing as street lights, which light up the road; a lighthouse, which keeps the ship from getting lost; to the rulership of the inner light of the soul, which lights up one’s life-path. He is always portrayed as standing at the beginning of all paths and beginnings (refer to the image). This is the reason why he became popular as the deity connected with safe travel. Consequently this Nakshatra relates to all kinds of travelling- physical, mental, emotional, astral or causal.

Pooshan is supposed to be a more nourishing, softer deity than our Sun god and is said to give wealth, prosperity and completion. It is not hard to see how fruitful journeys or fruit full life-paths will bring these to us automatically.

Finally Vishnu, the preserver among the Trinity, is the overseer of this Nakshatra. At the time of the final dissolution, it is Vishnu’s job to gather together all of the universal life force and consciousness. It is the gathering quality of this Nakshatra which makes it wealthy, whether it be in terms of material wealth, knowledge or experience. Vishnu as we know is the husband of Laxmi, the goddess of wealth and prosperity, which again brings this Nakshatra in touch with the principle of abundance. Mercury the planetary ruler of this Nakshatra is supposed to be directly connected with Vishnu. Communication is a forte of Mercury and Vishnu and as we have seen earlier of this Nakshatra’s well ‘The image of Vishnu and Laxmi sitting on a snake bed on top of the ocean of celestial waters is an image which can very much sum up this Nakshatra.

Name and Functioning:

Common English words like “reverie”, “reverent”, “revolving”, “reverend”, “revelry”, “represent”, “resolution” – seem to have the same root as the word “Revati”. We can easily see that their meanings relate to Revati’s functioning at some level or other.

Revati is one of the most pleasing and benevolent of Nakshatra’s. It is an extremely fortunate Nakshatra and this helps it see life in a positive light. It is the eternal optimist and remains completely unflustered even in the lace of big setbacks. It has an innate trust in divine providence. It knows how to keep the faith but in some cases it has a tendency to not do anything else except having faith. In such cases this usually positive quality turns out to its detriment.

A lot of the natives born under this Nakshatra tend to rely too much on belief and their beliefs are not always real. It is seen that some Saturn influence is required to give a realistic groundedness to this Nakshatra. Let us take two cases. In one nativity, Jupiter is placed in this Nakshatra aspected by Saturn and in the other, Jupiter is placed in this Nakshatra without having an aspect of Saturn. The former is more likely to reap all the expansive benefits of this Nakshatra, while the latter will be more prone to idle fantasies.

This is the Nakshatra of the dreamer. It can create whole worlds around itself. This is because of its strong association with Mala, the illusory quality related with Vishnu, which sustains the drama of life. Alot of natives with prominent Revati tend to live in universes of their own creation. It is a case of Maya within Maya, which is not very conducive for enlightenment. The best thing Revati natives can do is to see things as they are.

Revati people are always supportive of others and since one reaps what one sows, they often get supported as well. The peculiar thing about Revati natives is that they always get support when they need it most.

Revati can be seen as the apex of civilization. Its natives place special emphasis on refinement, sophistication, grooming and civilized behaviour. They like all the things which constitute civilization, and abhor primitive behaviour. A lot of Revati natives are born into rich, aristocratic or refined families. Unless there are other conflicting factors in the chart, Revati promotes good childhood, upbringing, early education and physical felicity.

Revati natives seem to have pleasing social personalities and are usually well liked within their social sphere. This is to be expected from someone who has had a good upbringing. No other Nakshatra comes close to Revati as far as being a socialite is concerned. They are very good hosts and their friendships last long because of their responsible nature. They are very understanding of other’s problems and like to be as helpful to as many people as they can. However, sometimes they take too many people’s problems on their shoulders, and can exhaust themselves mentally, emotionally or physically as a result.

They are always soft and polite in conversation and only spiteful if hurt or jealous. Revati is one of the tenderest Nakshatra’s and so has a tendency to get hurt very easily. Despite this they are often good counsellors and have a knack for solving people’s problems or showing them their right path.

Revati natives usually have a lustrous and luscious body and a smiley, light hearted demeanour. One can refer to the picture of Vishnu, for getting a general idea of the appearance of Revati natives. Revati is a soft but indulgent asterism. It is the Nakshatra which derives the most fun and joy out of the drama of life. It must be said that while more evolved souls learn to keep themselves on an observer status, the younger, less evolved souls tend to immerse themselves completely in the Maya of life.

This Nakshatra doesn’t actually have a sense of limits and so it is very easy for it to do too much of anything. This Nakshatra likes to exude power through its speech and other forms of communication. It is the most charming and enchanting amongst all the Nakshatra’s and its charm lies in completely engaging another person’s attention. This engagement can at times be so extreme that the other person may feel that nothing but the two of them exists. It is also a master at appearing intensely engaged in things, even though its attention might be scattered in a million directions. Among the Nakshatra’s, Revati has the strongest ability to cast illusions, while at the same time in its lower aspect it can just as easily get caught up in illusions itself.

Revati is the most tricky and clever amongst the Nakshatra’s. It is a chameleon which can put on any act at any given point in time. The more evolved souls use this ability for serving universal causes, while the less evolved souls end up using it for selfish motives.

Revati natives are proverbial “Richy Rich” characters. People often take them to be very financially well off even when they are penniless.

To sum it up, Revati can be seen as the height of civilization with all its upsides and downsides.

If there is one asterism which can see the bigger picture, then this is it. Since it is the last Nakshatra, it has the ability to understand and even mimic the energies of every other Nakshatra. Revati is a complete display of all possibilities of existence. It is the only complete Nakshatra in the sense that it contains all the wisdom and knowledge there is. There’s nothing which is beyond the scope of Revati’s domain and thus it is very difficult to label it, stereotype it, or put its nature and activities in a box. It always surprises others by turning into something completely different just as it is being put into a category.

It is a Nakshatra dealing with infinity of time, space and everything else. This is the reason why it is hard to pin this Nakshatra down, as some new light is always shining on the horizon.

The most significant thing about Revati is that it has the ability to see and understand every other Nakshatra. Its most important keyword is “summation”. It is the sigma and the omega. Other Nakshatra’s can only fathom where they are at, but Revati can fathom where everyone is at. Obviously this all seeing capacity is restricted by the evolutionary state of the soul in question. The more evolved the soul, the more all-encompassing the vision.

In the universal scheme of things, Revati relates to “kshiradyapani Shakti”- the power to nourish through milk. Its symbolism has cows above, and calves below. This imagery emphasises the nourishing and sustaining aspect of Revati. However, if one pays attention to the fact that Vishnu, the sustainer amongst the holy trinity, sits at on the celestial ocean known as kshirasagar whole new interpretation opens up. Revati then relates to the shaki which sustains the celestial ocean in which all the fourteen lokas play the game of life.

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